by Joseph Gresser
BARTON — Former Barton Select Board member Lenny Zenonos appeared at that board’s meeting on August 6 to press an ethics violation charge against the newest select board member, Ted Gattino. Mr. Zenonos, who currently chairs the Barton Development Review Board (DRB), said Mr. Gattino attended a meeting concerning the farm operated by Thomas Wood in Orleans, and falsely presented himself as representing the select board at the meeting.
In addition, Mr. Zenonos charged Mr. Gattino with being at the meeting in order to assist in either buying the property for himself or helping friends buy it. Mr. Gattino said he introduced himself as a member of the select board, but never said he was there on that body’s behalf, and said also that neither he nor any of his friends is interested in buying or developing the property for the sake of the community.
Mr. Gattino said his only interest is seeing the matter resolved in a civil manner.
Mr. Wood’s small farm has long been the subject of dispute in the village of Orleans. On the site that formerly housed Orleans Commission Sales, he tends a small flock of sheep and other livestock, many of which he says he rescued from abusive owners.
His neighbors have frequently complained of the smell they say emanates from his operation, but for a long while, state law that apparently exempted agricultural operations from local zoning regulations, foiled attempts to dislodge Mr. Wood.
When the Vermont Supreme Court recently issued an opinion saying …
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